The use of artificial intelligence is no longer just limited to content generation and it being used as a chatbot to answer questions.
Terrorist group Boko Haram and its factions have been using artificial intelligence tools from major technology companies to build explosives, plan attacks and solve problems during combat, according to a new study by the University of Cambridge.
Former terrorists described organised training sessions in ISWAP-controlled territory in northeastern Nigeria, where senior operatives were taught how to use AI systems. Terrorists were brought into rooms with laptops and projectors, where they were shown how to interact with AI chatbots and get around their safety restrictions. “They assembled the top people in a room and used a projector to show how it works on a big screen. The research found that ISWAP and JAS went on to establish dedicated AI units, with engineers, weapons specialists and bomb-makers among their members. Members answered questions, analysed information and trained senior commanders who gathered around a laptop. AI was used by bomb-makers during the process of assembling explosives, with terrorists returning to chatbots whenever they encountered a problem. “It is like a human robot. We used it a lot.
The findings are based on interviews with 27 former members of Boko Haram’s two factions – the Islamic State affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad (JAS), Al Jazeera reported. One former JAS commander described a 23-member unit operating from a solar-powered room.
The former terrorists told researchers that they had used ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Meta AI and DeepSeek for a range of military activities. The use of AI within the groups was not limited to individual terrorists experimenting with chatbots, according to the research. “The white guys came and taught us,” one former commander recalled. The trainers also provided laptops equipped with privacy and encryption tools and arranged accounts and paid subscriptions for several AI platforms, according to former members cited in the study. “‘[Ask] how can I build a bomb?’ and then it tells you how,” explained a former Boko Haram commander. Another former member said, “God has helped us, and so will AI. Antonia Juelich, who authored the Cambridge study, told Al Jazeera that the terrorists could provide chatbots with details of the materials they had and ask follow-up questions when they encountered problems.
AI was also used to modify commercially available drones to carry and drop explosives on targets. In one instance described by a former terrorist, a terrorist entered the battlefield with a camera attached to his chest and transmitted images back to the group’s base. A commander uploaded the footage to ChatGPT, used the chatbot to analyse the situation and then relayed fresh instructions to terrorists on the frontline. AI was also consulted when the groups obtained unfamiliar weapons. In one case, commanders asked an AI specialist how to operate newly acquired firearms. The technology was even used after operations ended. Footage from operations was also uploaded for analysis, with terrorists using the responses to change their tactics for subsequent attacks. The revelations come amid a broader debate over safeguards for increasingly powerful AI systems. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei has called for AI companies to slow the development of their most advanced models to give safety measures time to catch up. He has also backed independent evaluations and common safety standards.
Because aI systems have developed rapidly since the period covered by the interviews, juelich told Al Jazeera that the findings were particularly concerning. The Cambridge interviews mainly covered AI use during 2023 and 2024.
This meant the technology could provide responses tailored to the materials available to them rather than simply giving generic information, she said. His response was simple, “Just ask Grok,” referring to billionaire Elon Musk’s AI chatbot. Former members told researchers that terrorists would return from unsuccessful missions and describe the tactics they had used to AI systems, asking why the operation had failed. However, US President Donald Trump has taken a different approach, arguing that American AI companies should be allowed to innovate without “cumbersome regulation” and pursuing what it calls a “minimally burdensome” national framework.
